While checking bluebird boxes at the Coast Guard Station in Alexandria this
morning, I spent about ten minutes watching what appeared to be hunting
training by a family of Red Shouldered Hawks. While perched on a sort of split
rail fence, an adult watched as two juveniles would "practice" plummeting to
the ground in front of him/her from a branch of a nearby tree. Each of the
"students" repeated this twice, at which time the adult joined the young birds
on their perch for what my anthropomorphic imagination calls "critique". There
was also much flying around from tree to tree by all birds, which I interpret
to be the adult trying to organize the training sessions with kids who would
rather play.
I once lived on a large lake in Massachusetts where a Common Loon couple nested
every year. The highlight of the summer for the few neighbors and I was
training sessions similar to today's Hawk experience, wherein the adults would
float separated by about 20 feet while the one chick would "practice" dive.
When the chick resurfaced, all birds would come together for a few moments for
what we presumed was evaluation, and then the whole thing repeated.
Harry Glasgow
Lorton, VA
